Air India Crash: How Dozens of Indian Families Struggle to Rebuild Their Lives 6 Months after
- Six months after the Air India Flight 171 crash in Ahmedabad, families in Gujarat and the UK continued to struggle with grief, financial hardship and immigration setbacks
- Several families were forced to return from the UK as the loss of breadwinners, rising costs and tightening visa rules made life abroad unsustainable
- Lawyers representing more than 130 affected families reported widespread disruption, with many victims’ relatives rebuilding their lives from scratch
Legit.ng's Muslim Muhammad Yusuf is a 2025 Wole Soyinka Award-winning journalist with over 8 years of experience in investigative reporting, human rights, politics, governance and accountability in Nigeria.
Ahmedabad, India - Six months after Air India Flight 171 crashed seconds after take-off in Ahmedabad, the silence it left behind still echoes across homes from Gujarat to London.
As required by international law, India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) published a preliminary report one month after the June 12 disaster, when the plane exploded into flames shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad in western India.
Source: AFP
That report provided some technical information, but the investigation is still ongoing.
What happened regarding Air India crash?
Air India flight 171 took off at 1:38 pm from Ahmedabad airport with 230 passengers and 12 crew members on board, bound for London Gatwick Airport.
Less than a minute later, it crashed into the buildings of a medical university campus, located a few hundred meters (yards) from the runway.
Video footage shows it taking off but failing to gain altitude before crashing in a fireball. The crash killed 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground.
Only one passenger survived but was seriously injured. Among the dead were 200 Indians, 52 British nationals, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian.
Families continue to grieve Air India victims
For dozens of families, the grief has not eased; it has only sharpened as they attempt to rebuild their lives in unfamiliar places and under burdens they never imagined carrying.
For Hiren Dayani, the memories come in fragments: a lullaby, a video call, his mother nervously asking strangers for help at the airport while he guided her from miles away.
According to The Times of India, Kailashben was flying alone for the first time. Moments later, she became one of the 242 victims of the June 12 crash that killed all 12 crew members and 229 of the 230 passengers.
Hiren, a clinical research scientist, has relocated from London to Surat with his wife Namrata and their three-year-old son. The move cost him the life he had built abroad for seven years, including his near-completed process for Indefinite Leave to Remain.
“Everything changed that day,” he said. “Every memory of her comes back in a flash.”
Namrata, a former NHS employee, now runs a clinic in Surat while the family restarts from ground zero.
Some experts doubt
Air India CEO Campbell Wilson, in a speech on September 10, said that the preliminary report indicates nothing wrong with the aircraft, nothing wrong with the engines, nothing wrong with the airline’s operation.
However, some experts warned that the final report “could be manipulated
“There were electrical faults reported before the crash on this plane,” former commercial pilot Amit Singh, founder of Safety Matters Foundation, told AFP.
“The narrative of the report is built in such a way that the reader tends to believe that the pilots are responsible,” even though “a lot of the data presented is not sourced”, he said.
Source: AFP
Aviation expert Mark Martin goes even further, calling it a cleverly designed cover-up. He said of the accidents in 2018 and 2019, noting that an investigation later found a design flaw.
Boeing did the same after the 737 MAX crashes; they blamed the pilots. Boeing cannot afford to take the blame for the crash,” said Martin.
Families forced to return from UK as futures collapse
Mike Andrews, an aviation lawyer representing more than 130 affected families, says the ripple effect of the crash has pushed many back to India.
“We’ve met families who built their lives in the UK for years but can no longer remain,” he said after meeting survivors across Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat.
One family from Leicester lost its breadwinner in the crash. His widow and their three children, aged 17, 18 and 20, were forced to leave Wembley for a cheaper neighbourhood. The children abandoned their education to work.
“There has been a fundamental shift in their life trajectory,” Andrews explained.
At least 10 families have already returned to India, unable to cope with the financial strain, immigration hurdles and rising cost of living abroad.
For Mobbashera Vahora, the crash shattered an entire future. Her husband Parvez and their four-year-old daughter Zuveriya died in the accident. Parvez worked full-time for a major e-commerce company in East London and supported his parents in India.
Mobbashera was pregnant at the time. Her baby is now five months old.
“We migrated for better prospects for our children,” she said from her brother’s home. “We dreamed of building a life there, but all of that is lost now.”
Stricter UK immigration rules mean she has no path back
Harish Godhaniya from Devbhumi Dwarka lost his wife Riddhi and their three-year-old son Kriyansh. With no family left in the UK, Harish returned home.
“What would I do there?” he said. “We went seeking a better life. That day took my whole world.”
He has been unable to return to work.
Source: AFP
Meanwhile, the immigration battle is dire for Vadodara’s Mohammadmiya Mohammadasif Shethwala. He lost his wife, Sadikabanu, the primary visa holder and their daughter, Fatima, in the crash. Although he works with a logistics firm in the UK, he must secure qualifying employment by January 26 to stay legally.
A friend, Yusuf, explained:
“He went home for the last rites but couldn’t bear the memories in Vadodara. In the UK he feels less overwhelmed, but without a qualifying job by January, he will have to leave.”
The family is appealing “at every forum” and hoping for a positive outcome.
Financial burdens pile up
In Anand, another family discovered that their daughter, a primary visa holder killed in the crash, had an outstanding personal loan from a private bank. Interest continued accumulating after her death. The family says the bank has only recently assured them that the issue would be resolved quickly.
As reported by The Times of India, across Gujarat, the pattern is the same: lives carefully built abroad torn apart in one devastating moment, savings wiped out, and futures thrown into uncertainty.
For many families, the last six months have been a blur of loss, financial hardship, legal battles and forced returns.
The skies have cleared since June 12, but for the families left behind, the turbulence has only begun.
When contacted by AFP, the US aircraft manufacturer declined to comment.
Sole survivor undergoes new treatment
Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that the sole survivor of the Air India plane crash, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, started a new treatment a month after the accident.
The cousin of Vishwash, who gave the update, shared details about the new treatment that he has started.
Vishwash's cousin also opened up on Ramesh's plan about his return to London, where he was based before the accident.
Proofreading by Kola Muhammed, copy editor at Legit.ng.
Source: Legit.ng
